IAG and Airbus in talks on A350 order

International Airlines Group could order Airbus’s new A350 long-range aircraft for its British Airways arm as soon as this week. The exact number of aircraft to be ordered and the potential value of the contract were still under discussion with the talks mainly for the A350-1000, the largest aircraft in the A350 range. The Wall Street Journal cited one of the people that the order could also include the smaller A350-900.

If a deal is agreed, it would be a win for Airbus over Boeing which is trying to sell British Airways the next version of its popular 777 wide-body, the paper reported.

However, British Airways, which already has a large fleet of Boeing 777s, could still consider ordering the new 777X.

British Airways mainly operates Boeing aircraft on long-haul routes and uses current Airbus planes, mainly from the A320 family, for short-haul. The company also has 12 Airbus A380 super-jumbos on order.

Airbus was not available for comment and an IAG spokeswoman declined to comment.

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